Eating lamb at Easter is all wrong. While the notion of "spring lamb" has undoubted marketing appeal, you have to think about it for only a second to realise how out of kilter with the natural seasons it is. Spring is when lambs are meant to be born. So what are you eating? A baby sheep, a week or two old? I wouldn't put it past industrialised agribusiness to sell you such an animal, but so far, thankfully, nobody's worked out how to put meat on a lamb quick enough.

In fact, when you buy "spring lamb", you get animals that were born in the autumn - in October and November - specifically for the Easter market. Mostly they are reared indoors, with their mothers, who often continue to suckle them until they reach slaughter weight. The mothers themselves are fed on "concentrate" - a pelleted cereal feed - to keep their milk production high. In some cases, ewes and lambs will be turned out on spring grass in early March, but they'll get only a couple of weeks of it before they go to slaughter. The resulting meat, known in the trade as "suck lamb", is sweet but pale and, I think, a bit porky.

So we never eat lamb at Easter. We do, however, often eat sheep - either mutton (an animal of two years or more) or, best of all for flavour and tenderness, hogget (a one-year-old in its second spring or summer). Both mutton and hogget animals should have a good covering of fat, which means they can be hung properly - 10-14 days is about right - after which they end up even more tender than lamb, and can be served pink. A few good butchers will sell you mutton and hogget, but the best way to get them is directly from the producers - from farm shops, farmers' markets or by mail order (see Source It overleaf).

So when is the best time to eat lamb, in the true sense of the word? You've no doubt sussed my cunning. It is, of course, right now! February-and March-born lambs are invariably put out to graze within a few weeks of being born, and learn to eat grass, as well as their mother's milk, before they're a month old. They exercise far more than indoor-reared lambs, which gives their meat a finer grain and more flavour. Slaughtered in the coming weeks, at five or six months old, their meat is still sweet, but much more rosy and vivacious. This is the flesh of animals that, though young, have lived a little, with grass under their feet and sun on their backs.

Compared with pork and beef, lamb, even when young, is a distinctive, strong-tasting meat. It is this mild feral tang that makes it without doubt the most rewarding meat to cook over wood or charcoal smoke. So here are two lovely, easy summer barbecue recipes for lamb, with an oven roast thrown in, in case the weather doesn't hold.

Lamb Souvlaki

These get their distinctly Greek flavour from the lemon zest and oregano used to marinate the meat. It's a great way of using the cheap breast meat, but shoulder or neck will work, too. Serves six.

1kg breast of lamb (or neck, or shoulder), boned, trimmed of excess fat and cut into small cubes (about 2cm)

3 garlic cloves, bashed with the flat of a knife

1 unwaxed lemon, juiced and zest grated

2 tsp dried oregano

2 bay leaves, broken up

1 tbsp fresh oregano

3 tbsp olive oil

Salt and ground black pepper

In a large bowl, mix the lamb with all the other ingredients but don't at this stage add any salt. Cover, put in the fridge and leave there for at least six hours, or overnight.

Divide the meat between six long skewers (if you're using wooden skewers, soak them in water for an hour first, to stop them burning on the barbie). Lay them over a hot (but not too fierce) barbecue. Turn after a couple of minutes, then continue to turn regularly, basting occasionally with the marinade juices and seasoning with the odd sprinkling of salt. They'll take eight to 10 minutes. You can serve them just pink, if you like, although the Greek style is to have them fairly well done. But don't let them dry out.

Serve with, or in, warmed pitta bread, with hummus and a tomato and parsley salad.

Spicy lamb burgers

This recipe uses Indian spicing and has a definite kick (though, of course, you can always tone down the chilli and pepper, if you like). The same spice mixture makes a very good dry marinade for lamb chops or cubed shoulder meat for kebabs. Serves six.

½ tsp dried chilli flakes

2 tsp coriander seeds

1 tsp fenugreek seeds

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp black peppercorns

1kg coarsely minced lamb (leg or shoulder meat, for preference)

3 garlic cloves, finely chopped

Olive oil, for grilling

Salt, to taste

Put the chilli and other dry spices in a mortar, and with a pestle pound to a coarse powder. Put the mince in a bowl, add the spices and garlic, and mix. Cover and put in the fridge for at least an hour, so the flavours infuse.

Form the mixture into patties about 2cm thick. Lightly brush each with oil before barbecuing over a high heat for three to five minutes on each side, until nicely browned and cooked through. Season with a little salt on each side as you cook them.

Serve in buns with salad, a spoonful of good, fruity chutney and/or a cooling raita made by mixing plain yogurt with a little crushed garlic, diced cucumber, salt and pepper.

Rolled, stuffed leg of lamb

A great, celebratory centrepiece to any summer meal, this is a very forgiving dish. Easy to prepare and a doddle to carve, it tastes fantastic hot, warm or cold, which means you have the option of cooking it ahead of time, then bringing it out when everyone's ready to eat. Serves six.

6 anchovy fillets in oil

1 tbsp capers

2 garlic cloves

2 large sprigs fresh rosemary, leaves picked

A good squeeze of lemon juice

1 tbsp olive oil (from the anchovies container, if you like)

Freshly ground black pepper

2kg leg of lamb, boned out, at room temperature

Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/ gas mark 7. Heap the anchovies, capers, garlic and rosemary in a pile on a large board, and chop together with a sharp, heavy knife until you've turned them into a coarse paste. Transfer to a small bowl, mix in the lemon juice and olive oil, and season with pepper.

Lay the boned-out leg skin-side down and spread the paste generously all over the inside of the meat. Roll up the joint and tie it securely with butcher's string - it doesn't have to be beautiful, just secure. Place in a roasting tin and put in the centre of the hot oven. After about 25 minutes, by which time the joint should be nicely browned, turn down the heat to 170C/325F/gas mark 3 and cook for a further 40-60 minutes, depending on how pink you like your lamb (these times are based on a 2kg joint). Leave to rest for at least 20 minutes before carving. Slice thickly and serve with new potatoes, a green salad and some fresh bread. ·